Conference calls have proved a cost effective way to hold meetings with people who are located in different parts of the country. The audio quality of a conference call is maintained by connecting all the parties together through a conference bridge. The conference bridge often belongs to a different service provider than the originating service providers for all the parties to the conference call. In addition, the telephone number assigned to the conference bridge is not fixed and may not follow the standard North American Numbering Plan. As a result, when a customer dials the assigned conference number the local exchange carrier has to reoriginate the conference call as an "800" number to the service provider having the conference bridge. This increases the costs of the conference call without providing any benefit to the customer.
Another problem occurs when a customer has a private branch exchange (PBX) with several service providers including the service provider having the conference bridge. If the customer desires to place an on-network conference call through the service provider with the conference bridge, they cannot ensure that the PBX will select the on-network service provider. When the PBX does not select the on-network service provider the conference call cannot be placed and the call will fail.
Thus there exists a need for a method of setting up a conference call that reduces the cost of a conference call and will work for a PBX customer wanting to place an on-network conference call.